We’re closing out our first season with a complex, fascinating, and all-around delicious baked good: biscuits!

Historian and food anthropologist Deb Freeman is here to teach us about biscuits’ riveting history, discussing their early role in American baking and the way Black bakers’ skill and knowledge have contributed to where biscuits are today. Then, Jessica and David answer your biscuit baking questions in Ask the Bakers, covering everything from the best flour to use for biscuits (with a cameo from our Reasearch & Development kitchen!) and how to pick the right butter. Our producer Rossi Anastopoulo joins the show to share the surprising link between biscuits and basketball in North Carolina, and David and Jessica close out the episode with a Jess-opinion all about biscuits at breakfast and the best recipes they’re baking this week.

Follow Deb on Instagram and watch her PBS series, Finding Edna Lewis
Read Deb’s piece The rise: a history of American biscuits
Read Vonnie Williams’ piece Erika Council’s tips for better biscuits
Find our new Buttermilk Biscuit Flour Blend
Buttermilk Biscuits recipe
What David’s baking this week: Braided Challah recipe
What Jessica’s baking the week: Old-Fashioned Cake Doughnuts recipe
Record your question for our Ask the Bakers segment here!

It’s finally time. Today, we’re discussing a topic that produces a lot of confusion, passion, and toast: sourdough.

King Arthur’s very own Director of Baking Education Amber Eisler is here to share her considerable expertise. Amber baked in our bakery for five years and has taught at the Baking School for over 15 years, so needless to say, she knows her stuff. First, she and David chat about some of the biggest unexpected pain points bakers run into while making sourdough and how to solve them. Then, Amber sticks around to join Jessica and David for Ask the Bakers, answering your burning sourdough questions. We also have a special treat, a dispatch from our audience sharing the names of their sourdough starters. And, as always, Jessica and David finish up with a spicy (or in this case, sour) Jess-opinion and the recipes they’re baking this week.

More on Amber’s Sourdough for Beginners On-Demand Class and the Baking School
Visit our Sourdough Savvy shop page for our favorite tools and ingredients
Learn more about the Big Book of Bread
Amber’s Sourdough Sandwich Bread recipe
Super Fudgy Sourdough Brownies recipe
What David’s baking this week: English Digestive Biscuits recipe
Record your question for our Ask the Bakers segment here!

Today it’s everybody’s birthday, because we’re talking about birthday cakes with two Southern baking superstars.

We’re thrilled to have both Cheryl Day, award-winning cookbook author and former owner of Savannah’s famed Back in the Day Bakery, and Bronwen Wyatt, of Bayou Saint Cakes in New Orleans, join to share their top cake secrets and best tips for beginner birthday cake bakers. In Ask the Bakers, Jessica and David dig into your urgent cake questions, from demystifying the reverse-creaming method to what to do if your cakes keep sinking in the oven. And as always, they close out the episode with a big birthday cake hot take (featuring Jessica’s opiniated protege, our producer Rossi) and the best recipes they’re baking this week.

Find Cheryl’s most recent book here: Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking
Follow Cheryl on Instagram
Follow Bronwen on Instagram and Substack
Visit our Cake Made Easy shop page for our favorite tools and ingredients
King Arthur’s 2019 Recipe of the Year: Classic Birthday Cake
Try the reverse-creaming method with Vanilla Birthday Cake and Tender White Cake
Bake Cheryl Day’s Southern Caramel Cake and Old-Fashioned Coconut Cake
Find Rossi’s pie book, Sweet Land of Liberty: A History of America in 11 Pies
What David’s baking this week: Big and Bubbly Cinnamon Roll Focaccia recipe
What Jessica’s baking this week: Mini Pizzas (aka Snacking Pizzas) recipe
Record your question for our Ask the Bakers segment here!

Today is all about one of our favorite foods: pizza!

Best-selling cookbook author and one of America’s foremost pizza experts Dan Richer stops by the show to share his tips on baking your best pizza at home. Learn about his ideal home oven set up and his tips for nailing your bake. Then listen to David and Jessica answer your biggest pizza questions, from the best way to get a crispy crust to Jessica’s preferred method for reheating pizza. (Spoiler alert: It leaves David shocked.) Finally, they finish up with dueling Jess-opinions about pizza sauces and the recipes they’re baking this week.

Recipes and other links from this episode:

Find Dan’s book here: The Joy of Pizza
Follow Dan on Instagram and visit his James Beard-nominated restaurant Razza in New Jersey
Visit our Pizza Perfection shop page for our favorite tools and ingredients
Our favorite baking steel: Brod & Taylor Bread Steel
King Arthur’s 2020 Recipe of the Year: Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza
What David’s baking this week: Giant Hostess Cupcake Cake recipe
What Jessica’s baking this week: Peanut Butter Brownies recipe
Record your question for our Ask the Bakers segment here!

We’re kicking off our first season by talking about one of the most quintessential American bakes: chocolate chip cookies!

Hosts Jessica and David are joined by best-selling cookbook author Zoë François, who talks about the extensive chocolate chip cookie testing she did for her latest book, Zoë Bakes Cookies, as well as the surprising role cookies played in her family history. Then, Jessica and David answer your burning cookie questions in Ask the Bakers, including tips on the best chocolate to use and the necessary tool you need for consistent cookie baking. They close out the episode with a detour into space, Jessica’s soapbox on why warm chocolate chip cookies are actually bad (!), and the recipes they’re baking this week.

Recipes and other links from this episode:

Find Zoë’s book here: Zoë Bakes Cookies
Follow Zoë on Instagram and Substack
Zoë’s Smash Cookies recipe (the cover star of her book!)
Oatmeal-Date Smash Cookies recipe
King Arthur’s 2024 Recipe of the Year: Supersized, Super-Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
What David’s baking this week: Sesame Wheat recipe
What Jessica’s baking this week: Roti Canai recipe
Our favorite baking scale: Essential Digital Scale
Shop all our chocolate, from chunks to chips
Record your question for our Ask the Bakers segment here!

Introducing the official new podcast from King Arthur Baking Company, dropping April 28th! Join King Arthur’s Jessica Battilana and David Tamarkin as they explore every corner of the baking world. Each episode dives deep into a different baked good — its history and lore, tips and tricks, trends and takes — and they'll always leave time to answer baking questions from listeners. Along the way they chat with the best bakers in America to get their expert advice.